Traveling across the United States as a project manager for a medical software company, Stephanie Walsh, of Halifax, has witnessed a record-breaking blizzard in Denver and a flood in Nashville, and she has taken shelter during multiple tornadoes.

Kerrin Murray

Traveling across the United States as a project manager for a medical software company, Stephanie Walsh, of Halifax, has witnessed a record-breaking blizzard in Denver and a flood in Nashville, and she has taken shelter during multiple tornadoes.

“Up until this storm, I had always wanted to help, but I had been­ way from home – so I was more concerned with finding flights and getting out of the mess I was in,” Walsh said. “Sandy was different, this was close to home, and I had to do something about it.”

After deciding to join the Red Cross, Walsh knew it was her calling. “This isn’t work,” she said. “I used to define myself by what I did professionally, but I’ve quickly learned that’s just a small part of me.”

Why did you decide to join the Red Cross?

I joined because I was seeing that there were a lot of natural disasters, weather related disasters, that were happening in our country and I wanted to help. When I learned more about the Red Cross, I learned about the other sorts of disasters that they deal with, and so it all snowballed from there. But it really was natural weather disasters – particularly Sandy – that triggered me to finally go out and do something about it.

Was the Boston Marathon Bombings your first disaster response with the Red Cross?

Yes, it was actually my first major disaster that I volunteered with for the Red Cross. There was so much attention called to it, and I happened to be put in some very big areas. On the Monday night of the bombings, I worked at The Castle (a conglomerate of emergency services), which had been opened as an emergency center – it served as a conglomerate of emergency services as a family assistant center, and I worked there the first night. On Friday night, I was one of two people in the Red Cross who were in the incident command post in Watertown, where we were helping the first responders. I did have some interaction with the officers who got off the bus from capturing Dzhokar Tsarnaev from the boat. Those were sort of my two really big nights. … That Monday night, we had also helped look for a missing woman who was friends with and who was misidentified as Krystal Campbell at Mass General Hospital. That was one of the big things – the initial help on that first Monday night and then that Friday night at the incident command post. For both Saturday and Sunday, I spent time in the city helping at the family assistant center the Red Cross had opened by handing out water on Boylston Street after the Red Sox game and for all the people that were around. I spent four days in total with the marathon.

Where were you when the bombs went off?

When the actual bombs went off, I was at work in my professional life, and within 45 minutes the Red Cross had called and I was driving north on 93 and I was the only person heading into the city. There was a hold flood of cars leaving in the other direction. So, they called and I immediately left work and headed in to help.

What was your first reaction when you heard about the bombings?

You hear about all of these things happening in other places, and it just isn’t real until it happens in your backyard – you can’t believe it is happening there. So I think this is where me being a Red Cross volunteer makes sense, because I tend to run toward those situations and I can’t help but to want and be there for people in need. The Red Cross has provided me a safe, organized, well-backed forum for which I can go and do that kind of work, which is really important to me.

What roles did you have during the response to the bombings?

I am a part of the disaster response team, and so, for example, Monday night at The Castle I was to go there and help the city with any sheltering they needed or help to gather information for the people that were displaced. On Monday, I was still focused on the victims and civilians in the situation, whereas Friday, when I was at the incident command post, I was geared toward supporting our first responders – all the police and agencies that were in Watertown all day looking for Tsarnaev. So I got there at about 8 o’clock at night. They [the first responders] were tired. … Although we were just there handing out waters, it meant a lot to all the first responders who were working hard that day.

Looking back 100 days, how do you view the events and what is your response to them?

It still feels like it was a surreal situation, but I think that being exposed to the unexpected is going to put us in a better position to prepare for next year and for any of the unorthodox disasters. I was under the mentality that I was joining to help provide relief from hurricanes or deploy to places with tornadoes, but disasters come in all types of forms, and I think it is important to recognize that the Red Cross recognizes those disasters and responds to all of them. … It is always nice when people find comfort when they see the Red Cross truck pull up.

What advice would you give to someone who may be interested in volunteering for the Red Cross?

Do it! It is being able to give back in a situation when you feel like, “What can I do?” and “How can I help?” Sometimes, you feel like you can donate money or some people feel compelled to act on it. The Red Cross allows you to act on it in an organized, safe way. They don’t want people to self-deploy. It is very nice that people want to do that, but, by going through the Red Cross, you’re going in as teams and you are going in with purpose and guidance, and so it really helps maintain the organization in a chaotic scene.